Modern flat-panel TV receivers, utilizing digital signals for visually displaying broadcast and/or video information, are becoming more prevalent. These flat-panel TV receivers, including liquid crystal display (LCD) TVs, plasma TVs, digital TVs (DTVs), etc., commonly exhibit an undesirable delayed response time when power is first applied. Specifically, when first turned on, the display screens of such flat-panel TV receivers may remain blanked (e.g., black) for several seconds after application of power, and the audio often remains muted during this period as well. The delay in presenting the audio and video signals is generally required in order for the TV receivers to perform certain initialization functions, such as, for example, loading video buffers in the TV receivers, video decoding, surge protection, etc. During this time period, there is often no, or an inadequate, indication to a viewer regarding the power-on state of the TV (e.g., whether the TV receiver is on or off). Consequently, an impatient viewer, questioning whether or not an “on” command initiated by the viewer (e.g., from a wireless remote control device) was successfully received by the TV, is likely to repeatedly press the “POWER” button (e.g., either on the TV itself or on the corresponding remote control device), thereby creating further uncertainty as to the state of the TV.
In an attempt to solve this problem, it is well known to utilize a visual indicator, such as, for example, a light emitting diode (LED), which is typically illuminated when the TV receiver is powered on, and is off otherwise, or vice versa. The LED may alternatively be one color (e.g., red) when the TV receiver is off, and another color (e.g., green) when the TV receiver is on. Visual indicators, however, are often difficult to see, particularly when there is a high level of ambient light present in a room, or when the viewer is seated at a distance from the TV receiver. Consequently, employing visual means for indicating the state of the TV receiver is not always sufficient. In some TVs, particularly older cathode ray tube (CRT) models, it is known to apply broadcast audio to a speaker of the TV receiver shortly after power-on. In a digital environment, however, portions of the audio signal often leak into the video signal (e.g., crosstalk), resulting in undesirable rolling artifacts in the video display while the TV is powering on.
Accordingly, there exists a need for improved techniques for indicating a power-on state of a TV receiver that does not suffer from one or more of the problems exhibited by conventional methodologies.